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Major order for titanium tubes for seawater desalination

Text: Titania S.p.A., Terni, Italy and its subsidiary Deutsche Titan GmbH, Essen, are supplying 160 metric tons of titanium tubes for the construction of a seawater desalination plant in Dubai. This is the largest single order for tubes that the two companies from the Stainless business unit of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG have ever received. The Italian engineering and construction company Fisia Italimpianti S.p.A., Genoa, is the customer. The tubes will be used in heat exchangers in the Jebel Ali L seawater desalination plant which is scheduled to go into operation in Dubai next year. Jebel Ali L will produce 317,000 cubic meters of drinking water from seawater daily.

The tubes are rollformed from slit strip and welded in a protective argon gas atmosphere. The wall thickness is 0.5 millimeters, the diameter 30 millimeters. The heat exchanger tubes are a technical challenge in particular because of their length - each one is 23.4 meters long. Absolute precision is therefore required during rollforming and welding so that the tubes are consistently straight along their entire length. They also have to be supported throughout the production process so they do not bend. Laid end to end, the 160 tons of titanium tubes for Jebel Ali L would cover a distance of 764 kilometers.

The seawater desalination plant is based on multi stage flash technology. Seawater is heated and then evaporated under decreasing air pressure in a series of chambers. Parallel to this, fresh seawater is directed through the chambers to the heater. The steam from the heated seawater condenses on the tube bundles in which the fresh seawater flows through the plant to the heater. The condensed water is caught and collected on trays. The titanium tubes are planned for the stages of the seawater desalination plant where the salt concentration is highest and the exposure to corrosion greatest. The heated seawater contains around 40 grams of salt per liter; the water temperature is between 45 and 50 degrees Celsius.